Tuo Lei

Also known as Bei Er Zhi Jin · Tuo Lei

Tolui was the youngest son of Chinggis Khan and Borte, and by Mongol custom he kept his father's home camp and the bulk of the army. He fought against the Jin and, in the western campaign, stormed Merv and Nishapur in Khorasan. When Chinggis died in 1227 Tolui acted as regent, and in 1229 he presided over the assembly that raised his brother Ogedei to Great Khan. In 1231 he led the right wing through Song territory at Hanzhong to swing round into the Jin heartland, and in the first month of 1232 he destroyed the main Jin army at Sanfengshan in Junzhou, where the Jin generals Wanyan Heda and Yila Pua were defeated and killed. He died on the way north later that year; the Secret History of the Mongols says that when Ogedei fell ill, Tolui drank water over which shamans had transferred the sickness and died in his brother's place. His sons Mongke and Khubilai both became Great Khan, and Khubilai gave him the temple name Ruizong.